Playstation Vita

[mushashi]

Have they talked about battery life yet? Is the battery removable?

Battery life - They are working to make it comparable to PSP/3DS (ie not brilliant, but something with this much grunt will never do amazing battery life).

The battery is non-removable (unless you don't mind getting your hands dirty and possibly invalidating the warranty, as I'm fairly sure, just like the iDevice line, it is technically possible to crack it open and self-service it, they may just make it rather difficult)

[Guest]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9CH1n9tNV0

[SMD]

Jack Tretton said on Gametrailers that they're aiming to release in the US by the end of this calendar year and all regions by the end of the fiscal year.

[Charliemouse]

Thats good , it gives me more time to save and maybe get myself a PS3 for xmas just to play the Uncharted games.

[Oh Danny Boy]

Touch screens are the best thing to happen to user interface design since the mouse. I bet you're one of those luddites who don't even own a touchscreen phone, clicking up and down through your menus like it's 1999.

yes i am, and unfortunately i do own a touch screen phone as theres little else on the market. i find scrolling through menus and texting a tedious chore with touch screen. Using the buttons to navigate menus and text i find are much more efficient. And i still don't see the point in having a seperate stylus when a directional button is perfect for navigating menus. However the worst aspect of the integration of touch screens in mobiles is that it has caused them to become aesthetically homogeneous.

My touch screen mobile is on its last legs and i've decided to follow a potential hipster trend and go retro to avoid having to use touch screen.

[Alex W.]

Engadget's pictures suggest the sticks aren't convex all over:

[Alex W.]

yes i am, and unfortunately i do own a touch screen phone as theres little else on the market. i find scrolling through menus and texting a tedious chore with touch screen. Using the buttons to navigate menus and text i find are much more efficient. And i still don't see the point in having a seperate stylus when a directional button is perfect for navigating menus.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and suppose that your touchscreen phone is a Nokia 5800. Versus that, using physical keys would indeed be an improvement, but it is not a reasonable comparison. Once you get used to paging through 100 emails to the exact spot you need to be in two snaps of a finger, the prospect of flicking through with a directional button seems hilariously inefficient.

You know how I choose something on my screen on my Nokia? I press the keys repeatedly until the selection thing is over the item, then I press the selection key.

You know how I choose something on my screen on my iPhone? I press it.

[Spacehost]

yes i am, and unfortunately i do own a touch screen phone as theres little else on the market. i find scrolling through menus and texting a tedious chore with touch screen. Using the buttons to navigate menus and text i find are much more efficient. And i still don't see the point in having a seperate stylus when a directional button is perfect for navigating menus. However the worst aspect of the integration of touch screens in mobiles is that it has caused them to become aesthetically homogeneous.

My touch screen mobile is on its last legs and i've decided to follow a potential hipster trend and go retro to avoid having to use touch screen.

I bet your touch phone is a Simbian- probably a Nokia. At a guess, a 5800, seeing as you're talking about a stylus (something modern touchphones have consigned to the bin of history, as it's shit). Only that ghastly unoptimised mess of a touch UI trapped under a woeful resistive screen the size of a large stamp would make someone crave buttons.

Hah, fuckin' snap.

[Alex W.]

I bet your touch phone is a Simbian- probably a Nokia. At a guess, a 5800, seeing as you're talking about a stylus (something modern touchphones have consigned to the bin of history, as it's shit). Only that ghastly unoptimised mess of a touch UI trapped under a woeful resistive screen the size of a large stamp would make someone crave buttons.

The thing with the 5800 was that it was an interface written for buttons, but with touch replacing some of the button presses.

[Spacehost]

Engadget's pictures suggest the sticks aren't convex all over:

[Alex W.]

Hah, fuckin' snap.

I KNOW!

[Spacehost]

The thing with the 5800 was that it was an interface written for buttons, but with touch replacing some of the button presses.

Oh, it was a piece of shit. I thought it was actually pretty good until I spent a week with my Desire. Then I had to go back and develop a few Java apps on the useless crock. It's like it wasn't designed for human hands.

[The Sarge]

LBP Gameplay (Cam)

Uncharted (Cam)

Wipeout 2048 (Cam)

Man, 2048 and UC look incredible.

[SPE]

Oh, it was a piece of shit. I thought it was actually pretty good until I spent a week with my Desire. Then I had to go back and develop a few Java apps on the useless crock. It's like it wasn't designed for human hands.

Ramone needs to update his slash fiction with liberal references to 5800s.

[Uncle Mike]

I really want this now. The recent Welcome Back stuff prompted my PSP into the sunshine again, and a few days of Pursuit Force, The 2D Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character and Tactics Ogre have reignited my love of the system.

A new platform with shinier graphics, fancy stuff and new games really appeals. And Uncharted, Wipeout, Sound Shapes and Ruin (maybe) all look worthwhile!

[Stingo]

I saw Shinobido or Tenchu in the trailer ! - so I'm sold one this once that's out.

Intruiged by the CrossPlay functionality of WipEout PS3/PSP & for the first time I think LBP has found its true home.

Very impressed overall, will be difficult not to be there on day one...

[Uncle Mike]

I hope the PS3/PSV game-share/cross-platform saves stuff works without having to buy two copies of the game. What are the chances of that though?

[Spacehost]

I hope the PS3/PSV game-share/cross-platform saves stuff works without having to buy two copies of the game. What are the chances of that though?

Same here, man.

[bradigor]

It'll be a middle ground I think.

Buy PS3 Game: £39.99

Buy PSV Game: £29.99

Buy Bundle: £54.99 (or something)

[Ferine]

Here's a flashy video that breezes over some of the social functions:

It puts Hustle Kings into the Cross Play section, making yet another downloadable game for the list. Perhaps it's a purely digital initiative, allowing Sony to make the prospect of double-dipping attractively priced or, dare I say it, free?

[Spacehost]

Thing is, since Hustle Kings is a digital title, surely it makes sense that downloading the PS3 version could "tag" you for a free PSV version?

It's the traditional retail I'm not so sure of. Unless they go mental for the Project $10 codes and make every PS3 purchase with a PSV version unlock the PSV version to your account, a la Portal 2 on PS3.

[Ferine]

My point is not a single retail title has been touted for Cross Play. Maybe there won't be any.

[Spacehost]

My point is not a single retail title has been touted for Cross Play. Maybe there won't be any.

Cross Play is their multi-platform multiplayer, isn't it? I didn't think they had a name for their "you can play the game on the PSV and upload your save and continue on PS3 mode".

[Ferine]

I think they might have used it for both.

Regardless, I think the cloud saving aspect — the function which requires you to own both versions — will be reserved for digital releases. Vita games linking up with their PS3 counterparts for multiplayer doesn't really carry the same requirement for duplication: WipEout 2048 is clearly a different game to HD/Fury, there just happens to be some crossover in terms of multiplayer.

[Asura]

That social features thing... Well... It's a bit underwhelming, isn't it? I mean that's just a list of quite basic features one would expect any gaming-related service to have. The only real innovation is that the 3G version of the PSVita presumably can find out that info (friends online, etc.) on the move.

[Ferine]

Eh? It has more social features than any current gaming device.

Genuine question, what do you think it's missing?

[Asura]

Eh? It has more social features than any current gaming device.

Genuine question, what do you think it's missing?

No, perhaps I wasn't clear - it isn't "missing" anything. I suppose what I meant was that it covers all the bases, but there was nothing really new or innovative there, but the trailer almost presented it as though it was. I mean Xbox Live does all of that stuff, doesn't it? Certainly doing all that with 3G for access anywhere is quite new. It is nice though that they have all of that baseline functionality, such as party chat.

[Ferine]

Well, naturally the Xbox doesn't have any sort of StreetPass analogue, or the ability to give and receive 'gifts' via geocaching. Having feeds of what your friends have been up to could be very cool, too: think of it in the capacity of a cross-game Autolog.

I'd say all the tools are there for interesting interactions, even if a sizzle reel doesn't quite get that across, it's now just a question of implementation.

[mushashi]

So some further possible Sony in saying all the right things shocker:

PSV games being priced at $40 on Gamestop

PSV is region-free

PSV being sold at a loss (getting more than what the device actually costs to manufacture).

Gravity Daze is being worked on by Keiichiro Toyama (creator of Silent Hill/Siren) and his Team Siren:

If we said this was a Japanese-made game with an anime style art style, where the main character suffers from amnesia, you probably wouldn’t be preparing yourself for a work of great originality. But in actual fact Gravity (aka Gravity Daze) is one of the most interesting of the early Vita games.

Despite Sony’s indecision over the name both variants of the title are perfectly descriptive, since the whole concept behind the gameplay involves you altering the direction of gravity in order to move main character Kat around.

It’s a great idea and directing Kat down a perilous drop just to kick a demon in the face instantly endeared us to the game. The demo was clearly very early on though and we’ll have to wait and see whether Gravity can build on its premise by the time it’s ready for release.

[Keyboard Koala]

PSV is region-free

Très bien.

Gravity Daze is being worked on by Keiichiro Toyama (creator of Silent Hill/Siren) and his Team Siren:

Pants très bien!!